Small Town Girl
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: Elena Gilbert has just been hired as an FBI agent under the supervision of FBI agent Damon Salvatore. The two of them are hired in order to solve a series of murders in a small town. She's compassionate. He's ruthless. They are like water and vinegar. Despite their squabbling they are slowly falling in love. AU/AH. Delena.
1. Chapter 1

One

Twenty-five-year-old Elena Gilbert couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear. She couldn't believe it. She had done it. She had actually done. Even though everyone thought she was too delicate and doe eyed to become an FBI Agent she had graduated with flying colors. Elena even had a job already line up despite the fact that the rest of the recruits were barely filling out job applications. Elena on the other hand had already been hired by the FBI and had been set up with an actual FBI agent.

She was so excited that she practically peed her pants. She didn't know much about the senior FBI agent she was going to be working with. All she knew was that his name was Damon Salvatore and he was a thirty-two years old man and he had joined the FBI around the same age that Elena was now. Elena couldn't believe that she was actually going to have a mentor.

The graduation ceremony was taking place in a nice museum since the graduating class was so big. In all honesty, the whole ceremony was just a formality. All of the graduates' information and scores were kept in computers, stored away in case it served some kind of purpose later. Still the paper that Elena was holding in her hand still felt pretty sweet.

"Elena," her mother, Miranda Gilbert hugged her tightly. "I am so proud of you baby."

"Thank you, mom." Elena said as she hugged her mother. She had always been a Mommy's girl that was for sure. She knew that Miranda had been worried about Elena joining the FBI, but she had been nothing but supportive and for that Elena was glad.

"Pumpkin," Grayson was next. He hugged her tightly and Elena could practically feel how proud he was of her. Her dad, had probably been the one who had been the most disappointed with the fact that Elena had decided to join the FBI. Grayson was a doctor and he had, had his heart settled on one of his children following his footsteps and becoming a doctor.

Alas, that dream had not come true. Elena had decided to join the FBI and she would be moving to Washington soon starting her dream job and working at one of the most important offices in the country.

Her younger brother Jeremy had not gone to college and was currently serving as DJ in weddings and sweet sixteens in Mystic Falls while still living in their parent's basement. Elena was going to be with her parents for one week before she moved to Washington.

She was going to rent an apartment with her best friend Caroline Forbes. Both girls had gone to Mystic Falls High School. Though they had taken very different paths, Caroline was in her third year of law school at Georgetown Law School and Elena would be joining the FBI.

Miranda squeezed her shoulder. "We should get going, love otherwise we will be late. The drive back to Mystic Falls should take us no more than three hours. Are you ok with having dinner until then? Aunt Jenna and Jeremy are cooking a big celebration dinner."

Grayson rolled his eyes playfully. "If those two are cooking then I better come prepared. How about we stop for a couple of pizzas instead?"

Elena laughed. "You're terrible, daddy!"

* * *

Thousands of miles away, cramped in a tiny office FBI Agent Damon Salvatore was listening to CNN that was softly playing in the background. He was sipping coffee that had long since grown cold while at the same time looking over thousands of files in ridiculous tiny handwriting.

Even though Damon was only thirty-two years old, there was one or two gray hairs under his dark mass of hair on top of his head. Even though he had joined the FBI six years ago, he had quickly risen to the top as one of top agents for the FBI.

He had solved two of the most difficult cases since he joined. One had been the mysterious death of a man in 1958 and the other one had been the hacking of a world-famous bank. Both had made him the crème of la crème of the FBI, but fuck this job was damn stressful. If it hadn't been his passion and if he hadn't been committed Damon would have quit a damn time ago.

Damon was a smart guy and he was cocky about it. But he had a right to be cocky. After all, he had had more successes than failures. But for the life of him, he had no idea what to think when it came to this particular case.

When it first had come out it had been a regular homicidal case, nothing out of the ordinary. Surely something that the local police could take care off. A seventeen-year-old girl named Vicki Donovan had been found in a well her throat severed. Her killer couldn't be found, but they were looking into it. Then, exactly a week later another dead body had been found in the same town, this time buried underneath a haystack. When the third body had been found this time of a fourteen-year-old the FBI had been called.

Damon had been offered the lead in the case, but even this case left Damon stumped. The town of Mayfield with a population of 5,800 was small. Before this the biggest case was when someone ran over a deer. Now in the course of less than three weeks three murders had happened.

The problem was that there was very little information other than all three girls had died gruesome deaths and that the killer seemed to prefer brunettes. Other than, that they had zero information and just a lousy thumbprint that possibly belong to the killer themselves.

Damon had run the thumbprint over a server to double check that it didn't belong to someone who had already been in trouble with the law, but it hadn't served any good. Damon was still no closer to catching this psychopath.

There was a knock on the door and Agent Matt Donovan came in. "Damon it is three in the morning. You should go home. Your new intern will be here soon and they will be able to help you get to the bottom of the case."

Damon was at the height of his career that didn't require him to mentor any newbie interns, but he had taken the chance. He had been hoping that one of the intern could possibly help him pin point the location of the killer. He doubted it, but it was better than nothing. "Donovan, when does Agent Gilbert get here?" He had chosen someone under the name of E. Gilbert. He didn't bother finding out the person's first name, the comments under the name had describe the agent as "plucky" and "smart."

"Monday," Matt replied.

Damon nodded. "Good."

-End of Chapter One-

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	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to imarifirst and Vitsash for pointing out my mistake in chapter one, I have fixed it.

Two

"Here you need this," Aunt Jenna said as she gave Elena a glass of red wine. When the Gilbert family had arrived at the Gilbert home in Mystic Falls, Jeremy and Aunt Jenna as predicted had tried and failed to cook dinner. Grayson had ordered a couple of pizzas and Miranda had made a salad. Aunt Jenna and Jeremy on the other hand had tried to get rid of the burnt smell of pasta, but had proven unsuccessful.

"Thanks," Elena gulped it down in one swipe.

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Rough day? Are you tired after graduation?"

Elena nodded. "A little. I mean I was relieved that all the training and the schooling was finally over so that we could get to the hard stuff, but now that it's over. I'm you know-"

"Scared?" Aunt Jenna raised an eyebrow. "That's perfectly normal, kid. Everyone freaks out before their new job. You'll get the hang of it."

"But what if I suck?" Elena let out a groan. "What if it's not what I signed up for? What if my boss hates me?"

"Your boss won't hate you," Jenna said seriously. "If they do, well then they are an idiot. You'll do fine, Elena. You graduated from the FBI Academy with honors, you're going to be just fine." The tense look on her face didn't seem to leave Elena's face and Jenna decided to switch the topic. "Are you excited about moving in with Caroline?"

A small smile appeared on her face. "I am rather, even though Caroline can sometime be a little too dramatic, it will be nice to have a roommate with someone I actually know."

"I can't believe you're moving all the way to DC." Jenna's lip wobbled. "We're going to miss you around here, Kid."

Elena hugged her. "I'll miss you too, believe me. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can't throw that away, Jenna."

"I know," Jenna smiled. "I'm just going to miss you, you know. Your parents are going to miss you as well, especially since Jeremy is either at a sweet sixteen or in his room. But life goes on I guess."

Elena's lower lip wobbled. "I guess."

* * *

"Flight 895 has arrived in Washington, DC. Thank you for flying Della airline and have a lovely trip."

Elena's eyes fluttered opened when she heard the pilot speaking over the intercom. She tried not to be too nervous. This is the moment that she had been waiting for, her entire life. Her chance of freedom and of her dream job.

Elena had sent her stuff to the apartment where she would be rooming with Caroline. She only had a small duffel bag with her, containing the last of her clothes. She watched as the cranky looking passengers left the plane. She put her brown hair into a ponytail feeling exhausted. She couldn't believe that's she was starting work tomorrow.

Elena made her way through security before she managed to grab a taxi. She listened half asleep as the driver told her about all the sights in Washington as if Elena were a tourist. Well, she kind of was, Elena had only been to DC a handful of times and she doubted that she knew every inch of the city.

The taxi driver finally stopped in front of her new apartment. It wasn't a big apartment building, but since Caroline was in law school and Elena was starting a new job, it was all they could afford at the moment.

It was an open building painted a light cream. Care and Elena were on the second floor. Elena paid the man and gripped the duffel bag and purse as she headed upstairs. She knocked on the door of apartment 4C since she didn't have a key.

"Just a second!" a cheery voice said as they opened the door. Caroline was there wearing blue booty shorts and a white tank top. Her blond hair was a mess and Elena could see that she wasn't wearing a bra and didn't seem to care. "Oh my god, hi." Caroline squeezed Elena so hard that she felt that she was going to suffocate. "You're here. Oh, my god I can't believe that you're actually here!"

Elena laughed. "I'm here, Care. Did my stuff arrive all right?"

Caroline nodded. "I put it in your room, come in." It similar Caroline fashion, Elena noticed that Caroline was still a clean freak and Elena didn't see so much as a smudge. Caroline led her to the back of the room where the tiny room was crammed with boxes and an empty bed frame. Elena groaned. "I have so much to do and I'm starting work tomorrow and I can't find my lucky suit. Do you know where my lucky suit is?"

Caroline shook her head. "I think is in box number three by the door, you're not exactly the most organized packer in the world, Elena." Elena rolled her eyes as she dug into the box that Caroline had said. A few minutes later she pulled out a black skirt and blue blouse.

Elena frowned. "They're wrinkled."

Caroline shook her blond head. "Give them to be, I'll iron them. You just try to clear this mess before tomorrow."

Elena nodded. "Thanks, Care." The doorbell rang and Caroline chirped. "I'll answer it." A few second later, Caroline called for Elena at the door.

Elena followed her to the door and saw a pretty brunette who had short hair and was carrying a plate of cookies. She gave Elena a big grin when she saw her. "Hi, you must be the new roommate."

"I am." Elena said. "And you are?"

"Bonnie Bennett."

"She's our next-door neighbor," Caroline chirped. "And she's Dr. Bonnie Bennett. She's a general surgeon at the hospital on Devon Street."

"Wow, you're so young." She blushed. "Sorry, I am being rude. I'm Elena Gilbert."

Bonnie blushed. "I skipped a few years, child genius. Kind of embarrassing." She handed the plate of cookies back to Elena. "Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. Hope you enjoy the cookies."

* * *

She was late. Goddamn it, she was so late. Elena let out a series of curses as she parked her car and headed inside the large building. She tried to balance her briefcase in one hand while trying to put her hair into a messy ponytail. She felt closed to tears, everything had gone wrong that morning.

She had overslept and she and Caroline had, had too much welcome back wine that she had forgotten to iron her clothes and now she was a wrinkled, sweaty mess. She checked with the security guard at the front desk. She hurriedly went to the second floor where Damon's office was located. She was twenty minutes late. Elena finally found office 229C. She pushed the door open and saw a blond man and a striking dark haired man. Both of them turned to stare at her.

Both men turned around, the dark haired one threw her a dirty look. "Don't you knock?"

"Sorry," Elena flushed red. "Are you Mr. Damon Salvatore? I'm Elena Gilbert."

-End of Chapter Two-

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	3. Chapter 3

Three

Elena wished that she could go back and do her introductions all over again especially since the guy who was pretty sure was her boss was glaring at her. The blond man standing in front of him, probably could feel the tension and cleared his throat.

"I guess I'll leave. I'll see you tonight, Damon. For beer?" Matt asked.

Damon nodded, but he couldn't keep his eyes off Elena. Elena felt as if he were staring at every part of her body and it made her feel small. Why hadn't she knocked? She though furiously to herself.

Elena watched as the blond man left and she cleared her throat. "Sorry about that, I should have knocked-"

"Never mind," Damon said as he ordered the pretty brunette to sit. She looked like she just came from the land of Oz. She was just so perky and had that innocent look you just wanted to mess with. "Did you say that your name was Elena Gilbert?"

Elena nodded as Damon raised an eyebrow, looking confused for a second and he thought, Gilbert he had heard that name before. Wait- Damon quickly looked down at his file for his new intern, hire, prodigy whatever the term was. The name on the file was E. Gilbert. Just E. Gilbert. It was a new standard set by the FBI to make sure that there was equality or whatever.

He had never thought he would end up with an actual girl, especially since the male to female ratio was so small. No that he was sexist, Damon told himself. He just didn't want to deal with a girl's emotion or crap or whatever. Besides Damon dealt with gruesome facts, not just cyber hacking and rainbows and kittens.

Now he was staring at a completely adorable girl-no woman who had complete doe eyes and had such brightness in her eyes. Such hopefulness, it was pathetic. "You're my new agent?" Damon gaped as he stared at her. "Are you sure you're in the right place?"

Elena laughed nervously. "Of course, I am." She looked at Damon and she could feel her disappointment rising. "You didn't want me as an agent, did you? You thought I was someone else."

"I thought you were going to be a guy," Damon blurted out. "They only gave me your last name and the initial of your first name."

Elena narrowed her brown eyes at him and she looked upset. "So you're annoyed because I am a girl? Isn't that a bit sexist in today's modern age?"

"It's not-" Damon trailed off. Fine, it was sexist. But Damon had worked with too many women and he knew that murder case and doe eyed women didn't always work out. "Look, I just don't think this case is for you, you're new at this doe eyes. I'm working on a murder case, that is probably not the best place for you to start with."

Elena leaned forward, determination on her pretty face. "Try me."

Damon hesitated for a second, before he nodded. Fine. He was going to scare her just a little. "I'm am going to be covering the case of the town of Mayfield it is fifty miles away from here. Small town. The squirrels probably know each other. Long story short Miss Gilbert, we are dealing with a serial killer. A serial killer who attacks women under the age of twenty-five who seems to have an odd fascination with brunettes. All three of these women were tortured and then killed rather brutally. Their bodies were stuffed in unusual places and the police and the FBI are currently stun because we don't know what happened or who this psychopath is. This is a dangerous job and there's no doubt that we will run into some other bodies along the way. Now are you sure you want to continue?"

"I'm sure." Elena said. She was glad that her voice was not squeaky.

Damon nodded, Elena could tell that he was trying hard not to smirk. Elena wanted to wipe the smirk of his handsome face. He handed her a five dollar bill. "Here."

Elena looked confused. "What's this for?"

"There is a Starbucks around the corner," Damn turned towards him computer. "Venti, black coffee, two sugars."

Elena could feel herself grow red. He wanted her to get coffee? Secretaries got coffee. "I-" Damon raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

* * *

Elena came home cranky that evening, it didn't help that Caroline had an ever-cheerful mood. She was cooking dinner which Elena thought was a great idea since she was a terrible cook. "How did your first day go?"

"Horrible," Elena grumbled as she sat in one of the couches. "My boss hates me."

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Already? It's just the first day." She looked at her. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Elena said exasperated. "He just seems pissed because he found out I'm a girl."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Rude. Well, what did you expect, Elena you are in a field where it is majority men. Is he cute at least? I see a lot of cute FBI agents, of course they never talk to me."

"He's-" Elena paused. Was he cute? Yes, he was. Elena wouldn't be surprised if he was married or if he had dozens of girls flocking towards him. "Yes, he's not bad looking. He has that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on."

Caroline let out a squeal. "Well, there you go that's great. At least you can get a good fuck out of him while you're working together. Maybe then he will stop being so tensed."

Elena shrugged as she turned on the TV and tried to ignore her hungry stomach. She couldn't wait, for Caroline's pasta. She turned on the news and she saw a blond reporter looking grim and wearing a blue suit. The headline SERIAL KILLER STRIKES AGAIN IN MAYFIELD was in big bold letters. Elena could see cops behind the woman.

Elena was about to tell Caroline that she was working on that case with Damon, but she thought it would be better to ask Damon is she could even share the information. The FBI were pretty picky about that, the last thing that Elena needed was to get arrested.

"This is Karen Griffin reporting for Channel 16 news, I am standing in front of City Hall in Mayfield where another body has been discovered this time in the air vents of the building. Staff began to notice the horrible smell coming from one of the air vents and they called the janitor to check it out. In the air vent in room 356, the janitor Bert Collins discovered the body of fifteen year old Nancy Li. The fifteen year old had been missing since last week after she disappeared from soccer practice. Is this the work of the Mayfield serial killer? Police sure think so, more at eleven."

Her cell phone rang, startling her. It was an unknown number. "Hello?" she squeaked.

"Did you see the news?" Damon asked gruffly, not even bothering to say hello. Elena wondered how he had gotten her number, but she realized that it was probably on her file.

"Yeah," Elena said quietly. "I'm seeing it right now. Poor girl."

Damon ignored her comment, he probably thought only women had feelings. "We're heading to Mayfield tomorrow. I'll pick you up at seven, bring a strong stomach."

-End of Chapter Three-


	4. Chapter 4

Four

Elena was resting her head against the window of Damon's car. She desperately wanted coffee like now. Damon had woken her up at the ungodly hour of five am, even though Mayfield was less than five hours away.

Elena's head throbbed and she needed sleep. It had been like she had barely rested her head against her pillow when she had suddenly heard the honking coming from outside and Caroline sleepily telling her that Damon was here for her. Elena had blinked at her watch and saw that it was five am, the jerk had said that he would pick her up at seven.

Elena had quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a light cardigan that had a bunch of Snoopy's printed on it and bolted out of the door with her hair in a messy ponytail. Damon of course looked as perfect as always in a black shirt and jeans. He was sipping on coffee and seemed to take delight in Elena's frumpy appearance. "Morning."

"Morning." Elena said tiredly. "You said you would pick me up at seven."

"The police chief at Mayfield want to meet us early," Damon cocked an eyebrow. "You can stay if you want and catch some more sleep-"

"No," Elena interrupted. "I'm awake. Let's go."

But now what Elena wanted desperately was more sleep. She could feel herself getting crankier because of the lack of sleep and because she didn't know if it was because Damon's questionable music choice or because he constantly kept hinting that Elena was too delicate to handle a murder case that she wanted to slap him.

Elena leaned forward and turned the music off. "Let's talk about the case. Who do you think did it?"

Damon snorted. "We don't have any clues or evidence, Elena."

"I know that," Elena said with an eye roll. "Let's just speculate it's not against the law is it? Who do you think did it a man, a woman, an angry teenager who listens to too much punk music?"

"A man," Damon said with absolute confidence. "It had to be a man."

Elena looked confused as she passed the, Welcome to Mayfield sign. It was true that most serial killers and psychopaths were men, but not all the time. Elena could name some women who had done awful things in the eyes of the law. She honestly didn't think that another teenager had been involved. Teenagers would have done a more sloppy job, but they couldn't eliminate women entirely. "So you don't think it could have been a woman? The victims were all under the age of 30 and women- they are easier to drag around than the body of men."

Damon shrugged as he started speeding. "Well, it's not impossible, but in my experience it's highly unlikely. My guess is that we're looking for a man or a group of men. Or perhaps a husband-wife team. It's not like those are that uncommon."

Elena nodded, she couldn't argue with him there, as she passed the streets she couldn't have imagine a more nice town. It looked like the kind of town that appeared in fairytales and story books. It was hard to believe that a number of murders had occurred there, though Elena noticed that there was hardly people in the streets. "Where do we go from here?" she asked. "After we've seen the evidence?"

"Well, remember we don't really have evidence. It seems everything has been wiped clean. Though the Mayfield department did take some pictures and there was the autopsies. After we look at them today, we'll figure out our next move. We might stay a few days so that we don't keep going back and forth."

Elena nodded as Damon parked into the police station. The police station was tiny and painted gray and Elena had a feeling that before all the murders had started to happen they had never had much of a crime scene. "This is their first murder since 1956." Damon said as if he could read her mind. "They don't have much crime here, it's a small town. The occasional robbery here and there, but nothing of this magnitude. As you could probably guess they are overwhelmed."

Elena nodded, she was pretty overwhelmed herself. She and Damon went inside and the secretary went to the get the police chief, Chief Williams. Chief Williams was a short, chubby man with ashy blond hair who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. He looked relieved to see Damon and Elena. "Thank you for coming, I'm Chief Williams."

"Our pleasure," Damon said, his voice charming as usual. "I'm Damon Salvatore and this is my fellow agent, Elena Gilbert. First big job."

"Miss," he tilted his head. "Not exactly a picnic."

"I can handle it," Elena said, trying to keep her voice from wobbling. "What can you tell us about the murders?"

"Not much, I'm afraid as I'm sure Mr. Salvatore has told you. Let me get you guys some coffee and then I'll take you to where you can examine the evidence."

* * *

Chief Williams led them towards a small room near the basement. "I'm sorry it's so crowded and messy, we don't usually get cases as big as these that require outside work." He opened the door and inside was a small table, plus file cabinets. Chief Williams pointed to three boxes crammed full of papers. "This is all the information that we have, photographs of the crime scene, finger prints of the victims, autopsies, as well as a few witness reports."

"Any witness reports that may be useful to the case?" Damon prompted.

Chief Williams shook his head. "A couple of teenagers swear they saw Vicki Donovan before she was murdered, but they were high on weed so they are not reliable. No witnesses for the other two girls, and just one for Nancy Li, the latest victim. Her soccer coach was the last one to see her. He said he waved at her before going to catch her bus at the bus stop. She never made it, obviously. Other than that no witnesses, fingerprints were wiped clean, no murder weapon, no semen found inside any of them so no sexual assault. It was as if they had just fallen asleep. The parents are desperate for information and the town is in a panic. We have formed a town curfew, but we just need the person doing this to stop."

Damon nodded. "Leave it to us."

Chief Williams frowned. "Let me know if you need anything."

Elena sighed as she reached for one of the boxes that read First Case. "Should we start with Vicki Donovan first?"

Damon's jaw clenched. "We should have brought bourbon."

-End of Chapter Four-

Thanks for your reviews! I'm back at the University for my senior year so updates will be slower.


	5. Chapter 5

Five

"There's no way that we're going to be able to go through all of this today," Elena said looking at the pile of boxes stacked with information all pertaining to the case. The little room felt cramped and Elena felt a little creeped out. How could they have all this information and it still lead to nothing. "Damon, there must be hundreds of pages in these."

"I know," Damon said as he opened one of the boxes that was labeled Vicki Donovan. He handed her a pile of papers. "Start searching."

Elena and Damon worked quietly for a few minutes and Elena looked over the files that the police had about Vicki. From what she had seen Vicki Donovan had been no angel. She had apparently been arrested for using drugs twice and she came from a broken home. Nothing new there.

According to Vicki's best friend she had been planning to go to a party that evening, but she had never showed up. The next day she had been found in a well with obvious signs of torture and with her throat slit.

She had not been sexually assaulted which was odd in cases like this. Unless the killer had been killing for fun. "Here," she looked away from the reports and Damon was handing her a white file folder. He shrugged. "Autopsy report and crime photos."

Elena nodded. She studied the autopsy reports for a few minutes. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She had taken a couple of ecstasy pills, but the amount shouldn't have killed her. Vicki had died because her throat had been slashed.

Elena opened the folder and she gasped when she saw inside. She hadn't expected to see what she saw in the autopsy photos. Vicki's throat was slashed and there was dry blood all over her neck. Her brown-green eyes were wide opened and there were bruises all over her wrists. Her face was pale and it was clear that she had died fighting.

Her stomach flipped and she felt the bile rise up in her throat. Her eyes stung from trying not to throw up in disgust and horror. Elena didn't want to appear weak in front of Damon. But she couldn't control the contents of her stomach. She grabbed the nearest trashcan and started throwing up.

Damon let out a series of curses which only made Elena feel more ashamed. She just wanted to stop, but she felt like she couldn't. Damon awkwardly rubbed her back. Elena finally stopped throwing up and Damon handed her a washcloth and a bottle of water. "Thanks." Elena said. "I'm sorry, I haven't really seen any autopsy photos before."

"Do you need a break?"

"No." Elena forced herself to stand up. "Let's continue."

Damon and Elena managed to finish Vicki Donovan's box before lunchtime, though Elena refused to look at the autopsy photos again. Damon had suggested that they take a break from the police room and go to where the actual crime scene had taken place.

Elena felt a chill go down her spine when they saw the well that Vicki had ended up in. She was getting bad vibes about this and just wanted to go home. Maybe Damon was right and she wasn't cut out for this job. Damon and Elena inspected the scene quietly, neither of them spoked. But it seemed that nothing had changed since Vicki's death. The well was still there.

"Whoever killed Vicki-" Elena paused. "How could he or she place her here without anyone seeing?"

"Probably dumped her in the night. This is a small town, everyone goes to bed by eight pm." He gave a frustrated sigh as he ran a hand through his thick hair. "I don't think we will be able to solve this as quickly as possible. We're going to have to stay here for a week or two until we figure out our next move. I'll drive you home and I'll pick you up tomorrow. We can stay in a hotel tomorrow."

Elena nodded. "Hopefully no one dies before them."

Damon gave a humorless laugh. "Don't count on it."

* * *

"Thank you for the ride," Elena told Damon once he dropped her off at her apartment building. Damon nodded, he paused for a bit and then told her. "Elena, if you want to quit that's fine. This is more to handle than they taught you in school, you're a newbie. You should take it slow."

"Is it because I threw up this morning?" Elena blurted out. "It won't happen again. I swear."

"No," Damon said sincerely. "It's not that, this is a tough case. I just don't want you to get hurt that's all."

Elena said. She didn't know if Damon was being sincere or poking fun at her. "I can handle it," Elena said slowly. "Just give me one chance, please."

"All right. I'll pick you up tomorrow at eight. We'll stop for breakfast on the way. Don't be too hard on yourself, Elena. This is your first case after all."

"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore." Elena said.

"Damon. Call me Damon, we're going to be working together for a long time, might as well get comfortable." Elena waved goodbye to him one last time before he drove away. Elena felt exhausted, she just wanted to pack her bag and go to sleep.

"I'm home," she said as she stepped inside. She heard giggling and the clinking of glasses. Caroline and Bonnie were in the kitchen smiling and enjoying a glass of wine. Caroline looked a little tipsy. "Elena, come and join us. We're having a drink. Bonnie, got this amazing bottle of wine on sale."

"I thought I would share it otherwise I will finish it all." Bonnie said humbly. She poured Elena a glass as Elena sat down. "Rough day?"

"The worse," Elena slumped on her seat. "Remember, never to let me look at autopsy photos again."

"Done," Bonnie looked at her with sympathy. "Trust me, it gets easier." Elena sighed and mentioned that it wasn't something that she wanted to get used too. "What about the case? Any suspects yet?"

Elena shook her head. "Whoever, did this knew what they were doing."

Caroline shook her head. "Can we please talk about something else otherwise I feel like my head with explode from boredom. I would rather talk about that sexy boss of yours."

Elena rolled her eyes, feeling a blush rise up in her cheeks. "Would you stop talking about him like that, he's my boss."

Bonnie took another sip of wine. "Is he cute at least?"

Caroline giggled. "He kind of looks like that guy from the show, Lost. What do you think, Elena do you think you have a chance with him?"

Elena snorted as she reached over and grabbed a bag of sugar cookies. "I doubt it. I threw up when I saw the autopsy photos, not sexy. Care, I'm leaving tomorrow again for a week or two. Damon and I are staying in a hotel so we can work every second. Hopefully we'll find something."

-End of Chapter Five-

Thanks for your reviews! I'm sorry that I haven't updated, school has been busy.


	6. Chapter 6

Six

The next morning Elena was picked up by Damon with the feeling on butterflies in her belly. A part of her wanted to run away in the opposite direction, but she didn't want to seem like a coward especially since she had made such a fuss about wanting to be a part of the team.

She gripped her coffee cup. Elena needed to stop being such a baby and put her big girl panties on. "Morning," Damon said as Elena got into the car.

"Morning, Damon." She said. "Are you ready?"

Damon nodded. "Do you want to stop for breakfast on the way?" Elena nodded, she needed to get some pancakes or waffles. They drove in silence until they reached a small breakfast joint at the halfway point.

"Two coffees," Damon told the elderly waitress as she took away the menus. "I'll have the breakfast sample."

"And I'll take the pancake breakfast," Elena said with a smile at the waitress. Elena looked at Damon with crossed arms. "Damon, do you think that we'll solve this case?'

Damon snorted as the waitress returned with their coffees. "I really hope so, I would hate to have wasted so much time on nothing. The killer or killers will mess up eventually, trust me they always do."

Elena nodded, wishing that she could be as optimistic as Damon. She stuck her fork onto the stack of fluffy pancakes. "What made you want to be a part of the FBI? Specifically, in the criminal investigation unit."

Damon shrugged, looking uncomfortable for a moment and Elena almost hated herself for asking. "Well, I was always a curious kid, poking my head where it didn't belong. That and well, my own wife disappeared four years ago. Maybe that's why I am so attached to criminal investigation."

"Your wife? You're married-wow, I didn't know. I'm sorry. I feel terrible." Elena wished that she would have shut her mouth. She was horrible at making small talk.

Strangely, Damon waved away her apology and sipped on his coffee. "Don't worry about it, you're not the first person to ask about it. Besides it's been four years I've moved on."

"I'm sorry about your loss." Elena said looking at her lap.

"Oh, she's not dead. At least I don't know if she is." Elena looked confused and he elaborated. "Four years ago, my wife Katherine and I were married for five years. We married very young. One morning she went to the supermarket and never returned, police officers found her car near a post office, empty. All her things inside her purse, car keys, cell phone were gone. She just vanished. I don't know if it was a robbery gone wrong, if she left to commit suicide, if she was kidnapped, or if she simply got tired of being married to me and left to start a new life. Even though we've been married for five years, we no longer loved each other and we were very unhappy. I searched for her, for three years and nothing. I will probably never find out what happened to her, but I moved on Elena. So don't apologize. My wife is gone and I must learn to accept that."

Elena's voice was low. "Do you ever think she'll come back or that you will ever find out anything about Katherine?"

"No." Damon signaled for the check. "If she did run away because she didn't want to be married anymore, chances are that she left for good."

* * *

They used that day to go over the remaining files in Vicki Donovan's box. Damon told her that they were going to talk to her parents tomorrow. Damon and Elena were going to stay at a local inn. They had gotten two rooms next to each other and Elena didn't know if she liked the fact that Damon's room was right next to her.

She could feel her heart beating inside her chest. Elena didn't know why she was feeling this way. Elena could see Damon swimming in the inn's pool. He had asked her to come in, but she had politely declined saying that she was going to go to sleep so that she could prepare for tomorrow, but she had lied.

Instead Elena was spying on a shirtless Damon from behind the curtains. Elena felt like a pervert, but for some reason she couldn't stop staring. She just continued to stare. He was shirtless and his dark, silky black hair stuck to the side of his forehead.

Elena shivered slightly. God, she wanted to kiss him so much. Weeks ago, Elena wanted to strangle him, now she only wanted to fuck him. It left Elena in a position that she didn't want to be in.

Elena pushed the curtains away, the last thing that she wanted was for Damon to see that she was spying on him. She got into her sleepwear and tried to force herself to actually get some sleep.

Elena couldn't stop thinking about Damon and she hated that she could only think about him. She wondered how it would be like to kiss him, to feel his hands all over her body. Just the idea made her want to have sex with him.

She wondered what had happened to his wife, Katherine. Had she run away? Had she been killed? Did Damon still miss her?

Unfortunately, Elena couldn't get her answers to these questions. She closed her eyes and she soon fell asleep.

* * *

"She was a good girl. Such a good girl." Mrs. Donovan said as she looked at a picture of Vicki. She looked at Damon and Elena. The poor woman looked so tired and Elena felt sorry for her. "Yes, she was a little wild and my husband and I were afraid that she had some drug problems-"

"But all teenagers are like that," Mr. Donovan interjected. "All teenagers experiment with drugs and wild parties. I admit, I did pot in high school. But Vicki, she was so sweet, she would never hurt anyone."

"Did your daughter have any enemies? Any violent ex-boyfriends or people that would want to harm her?" Damon said. "Did she say where she was going that night?"

Mr. and Mrs. Donovan looked at each other with a concern look on their faces. "Vicki, never told us much about where she was going. She was growing up and wanted her independence. I'm sorry that we don't have any more information for you. We just don't know who would hurt our daughter."

They talked for a few more minutes before Damon and Elena left. "Well that was completely useless." Damon said. "We didn't find out anything."

"It's better than nothing," Elena said slowly. "Where to next?"

"We're going to talk to the janitor," Damon said. "The one who found the girl in the air vent. Come on, let's go, but be ready for more disappointment."

-End of Chapter Six-

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